Making A Difference

January 31, 2001|By DOREEN HEMLOCK Business Writer

Gloria Barbier spent three years in her native Colombia trying to raise the profile of the United Nations' children's agency UNICEF, so that Colombians would stop confusing the group with "Unisex" and give more time and money to help needy youth.

From BogotM-a, she developed TV ads, knocked on corporate doors and held fund-raisers, but progress was slow. So when Barbier heard that the U.S. Fund for UNICEF was opening an office in Miami, she relocated, hoping to contribute faster to needy children in Latin America from South Florida instead.

In the past year, she has helped raise more than $250,000 for UNICEF from South Florida, with about 70 percent of that money destined for Latin and Caribbean programs. A prime target for her fund raising: multinational corporations with Latin and Caribbean headquarters in South Florida.

"We live in a global community and can't forget about the rest," Barbier said, "especially when the companies in our area benefit from selling their goods and services to other countries."

She's not alone in setting up in South Florida. A growing number of nonprofits are operating offices in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties focusing their efforts on Latin America and the Caribbean.

The groups are attracted by the same forces that spurred 400-plus for-profit companies to set up Latin hubs in South Florida: ample air links to the region; strong telecom connections; and multilingual talent familiar with Latin nations. In addition, they see numerous Latin corporate hubs as a valuable resource -- for donations, transport and other assistance for charitable and social programs.

"People would rather focus their giving on areas they have ties to and where they can see the results fairly quickly," Barbier said. "It's a lot easier for me to invite the head of a company, such as Ryder, to hop on a plane and see a project in Haiti or Mexico, than to see a project in China."

Already, the nonprofits span a wide range of activities in the region, from helping provide tetanus shots for pregnant mothers to training teachers using satellite TV and Internet.

Switzerland's AVINA, which runs Latin operations from Coconut Grove, for example, focuses on sustainable development, funding such projects as environment studies courses in business schools and universities. Spearheading the effort is Stephan Schmidheiny, the fourth generation of a family of Swiss industrialists and philanthropists with business interests worldwide. Over the past five years, AVINA has invested or committed $176 million in Latin and Caribbean programs, including $43 million last year, said Paraguay-born Roberto Codas, who runs the South Florida office with a staff of 15.

The year-old Artisan Enterprise Network, based in Miami, meanwhile, is providing business-skills training for handicrafts makers in Peru, Bolivia and other nations, so artisans can boost operations and profits, said Rochelle Beck, project director who formerly ran a crafts-import business from Miami.

The network began with $173,000 in seed money from the World Bank and is getting assistance from the North-South Center at the University of Miami, a think-tank focused on the Americas.

Of course, not all nonprofit organizations aimed at Latin America choose South Florida as their home base. Many instead set up next to the headquarters of their parent companies.

New York-based StarMedia Networks Inc., an Internet portal in Spanish and Portuguese, for example, runs its nonprofit StarMedia Foundation from New York. The Foundation works in Latin America to expand Internet access and bridge the gap between computer haves and have-nots.

Atlanta-based phone company BellSouth Corp. also recently launched a program through its nonprofit BellSouth Foundation in Atlanta to help children working in Latin America to return to school.

The program, known as BellSouth ProNiM-qo (ProChild in Spanish), plans to grant about $6 million over five years to help 6,000 children a year pay for tuition, uniforms and other expenses, so their families can afford schooling. BellSouth estimates that 20 million children work in Latin America to help support their families, instead of attending classes.

Yet many nonprofits see unique opportunities in South Florida because of its concentration of businesses and professionals specialized in the Latin and Caribbean region.

Ask Beatriz Rangel, special adviser to the chairman at Cisneros Group of Companies, which runs its TV and multimedia empire from Miami Beach and Venezuela. Rangel helps oversee a program through the nonprofit Cisneros Foundation, which updates teaching skills for grade-school teachers.

The program, known by its Spanish initials AME, broadcasts classes by satellite TV from a university in Monterrey, Mexico, to nearly 2,000 teachers yearly in seven countries. The teachers ask questions and take exams over the Internet. Partners in the Cisneros venture: DirecTV and Microsoft Corp., which run their Latin American operations from Fort Lauderdale.

UNICEF's Barbier sees a wealth of potential partners in South Florida to help needy children in Latin America -- from vaccine distributors to vitamin makers, ad agencies to airlines.

For the companies, she finds far more than altruism at stake. "They're investing in the future of their own customers," Barbier said. "At the end of the day, that's what it is -- an investment."

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.